Bizarre misunderstanding leads to shooting of Uber driver

Officers were called just before 1 a.m. to the Lakewood on the Trail Apartments at 101 N. Brookside Drive.

Author:
Chris Sadeghi

Published:
10:18 AM CDT May 16, 2017

Updated:
11:49 AM CDT May 16, 2017

DALLAS -- An Uber driver was shot in the stomach while dropping off a customer early Tuesday morning, but it wasn't the customer pulling the trigger.

Instead, the shooting appears to be the result of a bizarre misunderstanding by a military veteran possibly suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Just before 1 a.m. Tuesday, the Uber driver brought a customer to the Lakewood on the Trail Apartments near White Rock Lake.

Dallas police said before getting out of the car, the customer struck up a conversation with the driver about guns. At one point, the customer pulled out a gun he was carrying to show it to the driver and they passed it back and forth while talking.

During this time, a man walking around the apartment complex saw the two with the gun and thought they were planning a robbery or attack. That man then pulled out a gun of his own and fired nearly 15 shots at the car, according to police.

One bullet hit the 24-year-old driver in the chest, and police said the shooter began performing CPR once he realized the mistake. The driver was taken to a hospital and his current condition is unknown, although police said he was alert and talking at the time he was loaded into the ambulance. The customer was not hurt.

Police said the shooter, identified as 33-year-old John Beaty, has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Police say he is ex-military and believe PTSD may have played a factor.